Disney Dinner and a Movie: ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’

Since I did a Hocus Pocus themed meal last October I wanted to focus on another one of my favorite Halloween Disney films: The Nightmare Before Christmas. This film is just fantastic in every way. It’s a delight to look at and listen to and is simultaneously a popular film and a cult classic. There is really nothing bad I can say about this film so let’s move on to the meal, shall we?

For an appetizer I wanted to use the lead character Jack Skellington as inspiration. Since Jack is The Pumpkin King I carved out a small pumpkin and decorated it to resemble his face. I then filled it with homemade bruschetta (made from tomatoes, onions, garlic and basil) and followed these instructions to turn tortillas into crispy bones and other skeletal parts since Jack is himself a skeleton. Using various aspects of Jack I made a tasty and pretty easy snack that anyone can enjoy.

For my entree I wanted to make a dish inspired by the film’s villain: Oogie Boogie. Since Oogie is basically a bunch of bugs wrapped in burlap I found this cute recipe online for creepy crawly pasta salad that used tomatoes, olives and spiral pasta to make it look like you’re eating insects and worms. For a side dish I turned green apples into grinning ghouls with peanut butter and almond slivers. Both tasty and delicious!

For dessert I wanted to mix Halloween and Christmas the way the film does. I found this recipe for pumpkin cookies and added crushed up candy canes on top. Rather than grinding them completely I left the pieces sharp and jarring to get a creepy factor more suited to the theme of the movie. The recipe worked out great and so did the added candy. It turned out to be a fun blend of flavors.

This was a super fun meal to make because Halloween is my favorite holiday and I absolutely adore this film. I tried my best to represent the characters and themes from the film and to bring in some traditional holiday flavors as well. I hope you enjoyed this installment of Disney Dinner and a Movie.